Recipe swap: noodles

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This week we'd like to see your original recipes for dishes involving NOODLES. Upload your recipe – and tell us a bit about it – by noon on Wednesday 5 March. We'll print our favourites in the Cook section of the paper on Saturday 15 March.

A friend of mine is recovering from a serious illness and I have been trying to speed up his recovery by making him nourishing but delicious soups. This food has to be easy to chew and swallow and should be free of chillies as they irritate his throat. Solution? A fragrant broth, infused with ginger and lemongrass, with herby meatballs. (I served mine with chillies, but you don't have to.)

250g pork mince

1 egg, beaten

2 spring onions, chopped

1 garlic clove, chopped

1 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped

1 tsp fish sauce

vegetable oil

2 slices fresh ginger

1.25 litres chicken stock

1 stick of lemongrass

1 garlic clove, smashed

1 star anise

1-2 tsp sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp lime juice

2 tbsp fish sauce

300-400g dried noodles

1 birds eye chilli, finely sliced (to serve)

2 tbsp soy sauce

Blend garlic, spring onions, fish sauce and coriander to a paste. Tip into bowl with beaten egg and pork mince. Scrunch up until well mixed.

I don't bother adding extra seasoning, but you may want to check the flavour. A quick way to do this is to heat a small frying pan over a high heat. Break off some of the pork mix and form a small patty. Quickly fry until cooked through. Taste. You can adjust seasoning before forming the meatballs.

Form the meatballs - best way to do this is with wet hands - meatballs are easier to roll.

Either quickly fry meatballs for 2 to 3 minutes on each side, or bake in oven on 180C / Gas Mark 4 for about 10 minutes until partially cooked through.

These noodles are sweet, smoky and slightly sharp - which makes for a satisfying but light dish. It takes no time at all to make and uses mainly store cupboard ingredients, so is perfect for a week-night meal. As this dish is a recent invention, it's not in my book NOODLE!, but it's already become a favourite at home.

Serves 2

Ingredients

6 rashers of smoked streaky bacon

500ml chicken or vegetable stock

2 tbsp caster sugar

300g fresh udon or rice noodles

2 tbsp light soy sauce

2 tbsp dark soy sauce

2 tbsp wine vinegar

1 spring onion, finely sliced

Large handful of trimmed watercress

Pinch of sweet smoked paprika to serve

Method

Combine the bacon, stock and sugar in a medium saucepan and bring to the boil. Immediately turn the heat down to medium and simmer briskly for 5 minutes. Take out the cooked bacon, slice into strips and set to one side.

Now bring the stock back to the boil, add the fresh noodles, turn the heat down to medium and let the noodles cook through in the simmering stock - udon will cook in 3 minutes, rice noodles take 1 minute. Take out the noodles and divide between two bowls.

Top the noodles with the sliced bacon and drizzle a tablespoon each of light soy sauce, dark soy sauce and vinegar over each bowl. Bring the stock back to the boil one last time and then pour it carefully over the noodles.

Garnish with the sliced spring onion and watercress and sprinkle with a little paprika. Serve immediately.

MiMi Aye is the writer of the food blog Meemalee (www.meemalee.com) and sometime Burmese chef. Recommended by Lonely Planet and Time Out, MiMi has appeared on BBC Radio 4's Food Programme, and in the Guardian, the Telegraph, Evening Standard and Metro. Her first cookbook NOODLE! (Absolute Press) is out in May.

Not a tea I would want a cup of but for me it really works with the sherry, creating a sweet, smokey sauce that goes well with the pigeon.

85g pumpkin, ginger and rice noodles or noodles of your choice

4 pigeon breasts

75g shitake mushrooms, sliced

100g spinach

150ml pale sherry

1 lapsang souchong tea bag

1 star anise

1 small bunch spring onions, sliced

1 large garlic clove, finely sliced

12g ginger, finely sliced and cut into thin matchsticks

2 tsp sherry vinegar

2 tbsp tamari sauce

2 tbsp olive oil or oil of your choice

In a small saucepan bring the sherry and star anise slowly to the boil. Pour over the teabag, cover and leave to infuse for 5 minutes. Remove the tea bag, leave to cool, then stir in the sherry vinegar and tamari sauce.

Cook the noodles as per packet instructions, strain, refresh in cold water and drain.

Meanwhile heat 1 tbsp of oil in a large frying pan and when hot sear the pigeon breasts for 1 - 2 minutes on each side, depending on how you prefer them. Transfer to a warm plate to rest.

Add the remaining oil to the pan and over a high heat quickly fry the spring onions, ginger and garlic, then add the mushrooms and fry for a minute or so. Add the sherry mixture, stir in the spinach and when it begins to wilt add the noodles, mixing well and heat through.

Divide between two bowls, thinly slice the pigeon breasts and arrange on top.

I don't think Germany springs to mind when anyone talks noodles. But in fact the Germans have their very own heart-warming and wholesome noodle-based dishes. Spätzle are typical and traditional egg noodles from Swabian Germany and is also commonly eaten in other parts of Europe such as Austria, Hungary and Switzerland. Typically it is served in a thick cheese sauce (Kasespätzle) and in meat dishes.

In our recipe, we added spinach to the noodle dough to add a refreshing colour and taste to the dish. You can use store-bought Spätzle / spinach-spätzle if preferred, but it is so easy to make you may as well! As for the sauce - chanterelle is a deliciously sweet and mildly peppery mushroom (hence the name Pfifferling in German). It is relatively pricey compared to an average white button mushroom or brown mushroom, but for obvious and good reasons (and nothing compared to, for example, truffles). Because of its relatively robust and rubbery texture, it stands heat really well and remain relatively intact when cooked and thus works really well in a creamy pasta sauce. If you can't find Chanterelle / Pfifferlingen / Girolle, oyster mushroom works really well too.

1. Blanch spinach in boiling water for 2 minutes. Run the spinach under a cold tap to stop it from cooking. Squeeze out as much water as possible, then chopped the spinach.

2. In a large mixing bowl, mix flour, a pinch of salt, nutmeg, and chopped spinach. In a seperate bowl, mix 60ml cold water with beaten eggs. Pour in the water/ egg mixture into the flour mixture and mix well. Add more water only if required. When you have a smooth and thick dough, cover with a tea towel and let rest for 30 - 45 minutes.

3. Heat 1 Tbsp olive oil in a large frying pan. When hot, add pancetta and onion. Cook for 3 - 4 minutes until onion is softened and panchetta is slightly crsipy on the outside.

4. At the same time, bring a pot of salted water to boil. Press the dough through a colander or grate Spätzle using a cheese grater to create small pasta pieces. Through them into the boiling water and let cook for 3 - 5 minutes or until noodles are cooked through (the Spätzle will float to the surface). Do this in batches if needed to prevent Spätzle from sticking together to create a large pasta chunks. Once they are al dente, run them under a cold water tap to prevent further cooking. Drain. Heat 10 - 15g butter in the same pot. When melted, toss the cooled Spätzle back into the pot. Fry for 1 - 2 minutes until crispy on the outside and when Spätzle is hot and has obtained a light golden brown colour. Divide amongst serving plates.

5. Add the washed mushrooms to the bacon / onion mixture in the frying pan and cooked for a further 5 minutes, or until mushrooms are just tender and cooked through. Tip in the single cream and add salt and pepper, to taste. Cook for 1 - 2 minutes or until cream is just about to boil. Stir in 1 Tbsp lemon juice and then remove from heat immediately.

This our favourite catering dish of all time. We make it regularly for parties and pot-luck buffets as it is quick, quantities can be scaled upwards easily and it is tasty warm or cold.

(Serves 4 - 6 as a light meal)

6 red chillies

3 shallots

3 garlic cloves

1 tbsp water

250g rice vermicelli noodles

400g frozen cooked prawns

10-15 fried tofu puffs, cut into 1cm cubes

300g beansprouts

250g spinach

4 tbsp tomato ketchup

2 tbsp dark soya sauce

2 tbsp light soya sauce

2 tsp ground white pepper

6 tbsp vegetable oil

Handful coriander leaves, roughly chopped

4 eggs

First, make the chilli paste by combining 4 chillies, shallots, garlic and water in a food processor and blitz into a paste. Soak the noodles for 2-3 mins, drain and rinse with cold water. In a large wok, heat the oil and once it is hot, add the chilli paste and tomato ketchup. Add a tablespoon of dark soya sauce and a tablespoon of light soya sauce. Stir to combine well. Add the frozen prawns and cook for a minute or so. Add the tofu, spinach and beansprouts and stir fry until the spinach has mostly wilted. Add the noodles a handful at a time and stir them round so that they are coated in the sauce. Add the rest of the dark and light sauce. Stir fry for 3-4 mins until the noodles are cooked through. Add the pepper. If necessary, add more dark and light soya sauce to taste. For the garnish, beat the eggs with some sesame oil, soya sauce and pepper to taste. Heat some of the oil in a large frying pan and pour a pancake-thin layer of the egg mixture into the pan to make a thin omelette. Slice the omelette finely into strips for garnishing with the coriander and 2 finely sliced red chillies. Serve with a dish of sliced red chillies in soya sauce.

If your a fan of all Asian Oriental foods then you will love this soup. A combination of the best Chinese, Japanese and Thai ingredients melded together to make a spicy warming meal – hearty enough for a winters night and refreshing enough for the summer season. Its up to you on how you want to balance the noodle and vegetable ratio – For a more filling result lay in the noodles, for a lighter version less noodle and more green vegetables and broth. It doesn’t require hours of preparation as the combination of spices, meat and vegetables pack a punch of flavour in a relatively short cooking time.

INGREDIENTS:

DUCK MARINADE

1 duck breast

1/2 tsp Chinese 5 spice powder

1 tbsp sesame oil

2 tbsp hoi sin sauce

2 tbsp brown sugar

1 tbsp soy sauce

3 tbsp water

SOUP BASE:

Rapeseed oil

1 garlic clove, crushed

1 tbsp minced ginger

1 red and green chilli

700ml Chicken stock

2 kaffir lime leaves

1 tbsp soy sauce

cracked black pepper

Squeeze fresh lime

VEGETABLES AND NOODLES:

200g flat udon noodles or rice vermicelli

1 bok choy or 4 baby bok choy

2 spring onion

Coriander

Nanami Togarashi (optional)

Lime for garnish

METHOD:

1. Preheat oven to 200C. Combine all of the marinade ingredients in a bowl along with the duck breast and marinade for a minimum of 10 minutes (and anywhere up to 24 hours depending on how much time you have).

2. Reserve the duck marinade for adding to your soup base, then on a medium heat fry duck, skin side down for roughly 8 – 10 minutes until the skin starts to get crisp. Transfer into oven and cook a further 10 – 15 minutes until tender.

We made this lovely dish as a Friday lunch and it took no time to prepare once the vegetables were all chopped and ready. It would be an ideal starter or main course for a vegetarian or even vegan dinner party if all the veg were prepped in advance. Use these same vegetables and seasonings to add real flavour to zero noodles.

Serves 4

200g thin egg noodles of choice

Water for soaking noodles plus salt to taste

150g fresh cashew nuts

1 teaspoon oil for cooking

1½ tablespoons marigold powder

2 cloves garlic finely grated

1 red chilli chosen according to preference of strength, deseeded and finely chopped

1 thumb of ginger finely grated

2 bunches spring onions trimmed and finely chopped

3 large carrots cleaned and chopped into julienne strips

½ Chinese cabbage finely chopped

175g sweet corn cut diagonally

200g fresh mange tout cut in half diagonally

1 red pepper deseeded and finely chopped

1 yellow pepper deseeded and finely chopped

350g fresh bean sprouts

25g finely chopped fresh coriander

Freshly milled salt and pepper

Toast the cashews in a low oven for ten minutes until golden brown. Remove and cool. Soak the egg noodles with the boiling water and cook according to the instructions on the packet. Put the spring onions in a large pan or wok, add the oil and begin cooking on a medium heat stirring frequently. Grate the garlic and ginger directly into the pan adding the remaining vegetables except for the fresh coriander, and cook for approximately five to ten minutes according to preference. Taste and season well with salt and pepper and the freshly chopped coriander.

Cook the vermicelli noodles in boiling water for approximately 5-7 minutes or until just cooked. Drain well. Grate the carrots and place the carrots and the vermicelli in a large bowl. Beat together. Grate the zest of the lemon and orange and add to the carrot mixture. Squeeze the juice into a small jug or bowl and add the raisins. Stir well. Leave for ten – fifteen minutes to plump up. Beat in the cream cheese, the ground almonds and the raisins with juice. Then add the eggs and vanilla when the vermicelli should be sufficiently cooled not to cook them. It should be a wonderfully thick cake consistency. Pour the mixture into the prepared dish and bake for 45 – 55 minutes or until gloriously golden and the nuts toasted. Serve warm with soured cream for a naughty touch and love it!! xxx

These fabulous pasta parcels are an iconic Jewish speciality and for the Purim festival Sarah and I fill them with a spiced chickpea/tchina filling remembering Queen Esther who saved the Jewish race and became a vegetarian.

Makes 32-36

dough

2 free range organic eggs

1 tablespoon olive oil

Pinch saffron strands steeped in 1 tablespoon hot water

225g plain flour

Pinch salt

Pinch baking powder

Filling

1x 235g tin chickpeas in water

1 heaped tablespoon tchina (oriental sesame paste) or tahini

½ teaspoon chopped chillies

1 teaspoon garam masala

¼ teaspoon ground turmeric

25g finely chopped coriander

1 teaspoon ground paprika

Freshly milled salt and pepper to taste

Beat the eggs in a measuring jug, with the oil adding the strained saffron liquid. Place the flour in the bowl of the food processor with the salt and the baking powder. Pour in the beaten egg mixture and process to make a soft pliable dough. If the mixture is very sticky add a little extra flour. Or make as usual in a mixing bowl. Place on a work surface and knead into a ball. Wrap in cling film and chill for approximately 30 mins.

For the filling place all the ingredients together and wiz until a coarse paste is achieved. Season well with salt and pepper. Roll out the dough very thinly on a floured work surface and cut into squares approximately 9x 9cms. Place ½ teaspoon of the filling in the centre. Wet all the edges and close the filling making a triangle. Pinch edges well to prevent leaks. Freeze if you wish or serve by cooking for 5-7 minutes in a tasty stock. Enjoy and happy Purim.

My teenage son roasted the pork and wrapped the won ton (minced pork dumplings) by himself as this is one of his favourite meals. Maybe next time, he'll make his own noodles too?

Char Siu (Chinese roast Pork)

• Wash 300g of pork belly and pat dry before placing in a sturdy bag.

• Mix in a bowl a tablespoon of maltose, two tablespoons of light soy sauce, a tablespoon of dark soy sauce sauce, two tablespoons of Hoisin sauce, a tablespoon of Shaoshing wine, a tablespoon of minced garlic and a tablespoon of minced ginger.

• Pour the mix into the bag and rub into the pork before leaving to marinade for a few hours in the fridge.

Once the pork has marinated enough, tip the bags contents into a non-stick pot, fill with water and braise the pork for 45 minutes rotating it every 15 minutes

Once cooked, remove the pork from the reduced sauce and leave to stand for five minutes.

• After standing slice pork into thin slices and serve with egg noodles and wontons and blanched pak choy

Won tons (minced pork dumplings)

• Mince 150g of pork and mix with two tablespoons of light soy sauce, a tablespoon of sesame oil, an egg white, four diced chinese mushrooms and four diced water chestnuts for the wonton filling

• Place a teaspoon of the wonton filling onto a wonton skin (available frozen at Chinese supermarket) and wrap by folding over a corner then rotating the corners around to meet and seal them together with some egg.

• Place the wontons in a pot of boiling soup (chicken broth) until they float and then remove them

Some evenings we just have the need for something simple. Nowadays spaghetti with tomato sauce has become almost synonymous with children’s food and is not even considered as a dish for adults anymore. Homemade tomato sauce in winter of course relies on summer preserves, luckily a good Italian tomato passata can also be purchased. Every ingredients shines in this fresh & clean tomato sauce, the onions add a pleasant bite since they are not softened completely. Top a bowl of spaghetti with this simple sauce, sprinkle with freshly grated parmesan and watch a little knob of butter melt on top for pure delight.

Spaghetti with simple tomato sauce

A good glug of extra vergine olive oil (you might argue that it is wasted, use other by all means, on your head be it)

1 onion, finely diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

a bottle (700g or 720ml) Italian tomato passata (pure, unseasoned)

salt & black pepper

a bunch of fresh basil (big dark leaves, please do not use the meak specimens in little pots)

sugar (optional, not needed if you have a good Italian or homemade passata)

Parmigiano reggiano

spaghetti (preferably a good brand, cooked al dente)

butter

Cook the onions in olive oil in a cast-iron pot or saucepan over medium heat until they are translucent (for about 2-3 minutes, they should not brown). Add the garlic and cook for another scant minute until the garlic is fragrant but not catching any colour. Pour the tomato passata into the pan, season with a little salt & pepper, add a pinch of sugar if you have a very tart tomato passata and cook the sauce while stirring from time to time over medium to low heat (avoid burning and vigorous splattering) for about 15-20 minutes until the sauce has reduced & thickened a bit but is still thinner compared to the jar variety. Chop or tear the basil leaves & stir them into the sauce, adjust the seasoning and spoon over your spaghetti. Top with freshly grated parmesan, add a little knob of butter and watch it melt.

There are lots of different versions of laksa from Malaysia and Singapore.

Some have prawns and shellfish, or bits of fish (usually mackerel). Others had tofu and taupok (fried beancurd puffs) or fishcakes. There is a hot sweet and sour version flavoured with tamarind (and no coconut) from Penang, and one that includes big fat juicy noodles (which were my father's favourite - no doubt because they were the messiest!). There was a version from Sarawak that Henry also adored - a broth made with chicken and fish stock and chock-full of chicken and prawns and topped with omelette strips.

I loved them all since they were all fragrant with spice and often creamy with coconut.

I still remember the childish glee I felt as I ate my first bowl of laksa lemak (spicy Malaysian coconut noodle soup) at a hawker stall in downtown Kuala Lumper. My mother winced as I slurped and chewed the creamy noodles as soup dribbled down my chin and splattering my once-crisp and clean summer frock.

"Daddy says that it's considered polite in Malaysia to slurp your noodles," I said cheerfully. "Your father says a lot of things", my mother muttered darkly. My father, Henry, and I grinned at each other; co-conspirators in our mutual enjoyment of breaking the rules: my mother was probably looking around for a handcart to send the pair of us to hell in for our sloppy table manners.

"Pandai" said the stall holder and cook looking over approvingly in my direction. "Panda"i is a catch-all word that means clever, beautiful, what a little angel or most likely hasn't she done well sort of way. "Oh yes!" said Henry fondly. "That's my girl," wiping a mock tear from his eye. (He liked to pretend he was Spike the Dog, from the Tom and Jerry cartoons), as my mother fumed quietly convinced that this was a lesson I was never going to forget. She was right.

Needless to say Henry and I shared many a bowl of noodles over the next 30 years, in fact right up until the week before he died. (Although Henry did once say that my spicy noodles might be the death of him as I had rather overdone the chillies, I would like to make it clear that it wasn't my cooking or his greed for noodles that killed him but grand old age!)

Fragrant with spice, (not too much chilli) and richly creamy with coconut, everyone should try a laksa at least once in their life. Bibs are optional

Make spice paste by blending all the ingredients in a blender. (Careful if you are using fresh turmeric as it is stains everything it touches, including blenders!) If it is very thick, add a little water or a splash of vegetable oil to thin.

Heat 1 to 2 tablespoons of oil in a heavy-based saucepan. Add 2 to 3 tablespoons of spice paste, or to taste. Stir over a low to medium heat for 3 minutes or until beginning to darken and fragrant.

Add coconut milk, stock, sugar, green beans and herbs. Stir well to ensure all the paste is distributed through the liquid. Simmer for about 15 minutes. Check seasoning and add salt if needed.

Add the seafood and cook until cooked through. (If using shellfish, then the shells should have opened.)

Stir through the cooked noodles and serve with extra coriander, chilli sambal and fresh lime wedges.

I love ordering a bowl of these comforting spicy noodles every time I’m in Chinatown. Think of this Chinese dish as an Asian version of spaghetti Bolognese. It’s basically stir-fried beef mince on top of spicy, brothy noodles – all served with pak choi (Chinese cabbage) to make sure you eat your greens.

This is a recipe from my blog http://anneskitchen.co.uk

Serves 4 • Prep 30’ • Easy

2 pak choi

600g fresh Asian egg noodles

For the sauce:

120ml chicken stock

4 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp peanut butter

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

2-4 tbsp chili oil

4 tsp sesame oil

2 tsp sugar

For the beef:

6 spring onions

2 tbsp oil

4 garlic cloves,

crushed

2 tsp fresh ginger, grated

500g minced beef

2 tbsp rice wine or dry sherry (optional)

Mix all the ingredients for the sauce in a m

edium bowl, set aside.

Trim the spring onions and finely slice. Heat the oil in a frying pan, add the spring onions, crushed garlic and ginger and fry for a minute. Add the beef and stir-fry for about 5 minutes until the meat starts getting brown and crisp

y on the outside. Add the rice wine, sherry or 2 tablespoons of the sauce to deglaze the pan.

Meanwhile, bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Wash the pak choi and cut into 5cm pieces. Cook the pak choi in the water for one minute, remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. Turn off the hob, put the noodles into the hot water and leave to stand for a couple of minutes or until the noodles are heated through.

Heat up the sauce in a saucepan.

Drain the noodles, put into serving bowls and pour the sauce over them. Top with the crispy beef and pak choi.

TIP: You can use 250g dried Asian egg noodles for this dish, in that case cook them according to the packaging’s instructions.

If laksa is a thing of beauty the first time you see it, it is an unutterable joy when you first taste it. Hot, sweet, sour, fishy, light, dense, ever so slightly grainy and full of slippy splashy noodles. Wow. Recipe here - http://www.practicallydaily.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/laksa-with-tofu-puffs.html